Governance mechanisms

For this assessment criterion, you will be examining the governance of your own organisation and critically evaluating how procedures and mechanisms relate to the identity of your organisation.

Governance concepts

A good definition of social care governance can be found in SCIE’s publication Social care governance: a workbook
based on practice in England (login required):

Social care governance is a framework for making sure that social care services
provide excellent ethical standards of service and continue to improve them.
Our values, behaviours, decisions and processes are open to scrutiny as we
develop safe and effective evidence-based practice. Good governance means
that we recognise our accountability, we act on lessons learned and we are
honest and open in seeking the best possible outcomes and results for people.

Furthermore, in the preamble for Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) describe governance as:

To meet this regulation; providers must have effective governance, including assurance and auditing systems or processes. These must assess, monitor and drive improvement in the quality and safety of the services provided, including the quality of the experience for people using the service. The systems and processes must also assess, monitor and mitigate any risks relating the health, safety and welfare of people using services and others. Providers must continually evaluate and seek to improve their governance and auditing practice.

Governance Processes

Governance processes help to ensure that high-quality, safe and effective care is provided by having systems in place to continually improve practice. Processes can include:

• Risk management
• Performance monitoring and professional development
• Decision-making
• Auditing
• Partnership working
• Information management

Roles and responsibilities within the governance process

Accountability is essential within governance processes and so there should be clarity about roles and responsibilities, using clear channels of communication.

For example, monitoring and auditing processes should be used to ensure that all employees are adhering to policies and procedures – the development of these processes and overseeing their implementation will be the manager(s) responsibility.

Understanding of the governance process within the organisation

You should familiarise yourself with your organisation’s policies and procedures relating to governance processes and evaluate if they align with the values and identity of the organisation. You may also wish to think about why your organisation does things in a particular way and perhaps make recommendations about how they could be improved.